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Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien is a late-night talk-show host, and the Flaming C's alter-ego. Biography Early Years Conan was born on April 18, 1963, in Brookline, Massachusetts, to Thomas and Ruth O'Brien, and is one of six children. After graduating as the valedictorian of Brookline High School's class of 1981, O'Brien attended Harvard, where he studied English literature and American history. He joined the Harvard Lampoon, the undergraduate satirical paper, and eventually became its editor and two-time president. After graduating magna cum laude from Harvard in 1985, O'Brien moved to Los Angeles where he became a writer on HBO's Not Necessarily the News, and Fox's The Wilton North Report, which was shortly after cancelled. In January 1988, O'Brien was hired by Lorne Michaels as a writer for Saturday Night Live. During the 87-88 Writers Strike. O'Brien moved to Chicago and put on the improvisational revue Happy Happy Good Show with his SNL colleagues Robert Smigel and Bob Odenkirk. The following year, O'Brien and the SNL writing team won an an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy or Variety Series. O'Brien and Smigel worked on a pilot for NBC, Lookwell, starring Adam West. Though the pilot was never picked it up, it became popular among the fans. O'Brien left SNL in 1991 and joined the writing team of Fox's The Simpsons. He was credited as writing four episodes, one of them being the classic "Marge vs. the Monorail." O'Brien was promoted to a producer during the fourth and fifth seasons. ''Late Night'' Following David Letterman's departure from Late Night, O'Brien was contacted by Lorne Michaels to become a producer on the new Late Night. O'Brien declined, and was later invited to audition for the role of the host. The show premiered on September 13, 1993. The first few years were not successful, leading to Cnan's contract being renewed every few weeks. The show eventually picked up its pace in 1996, after which it started receiving annual nominations for an Emmy Award for Best Writing in a Comedy or Variety Series, and Best Comedy or Variety Series. The writing team won the Writers Guild Award for Best Writing in a Comedy/Variety Series in 1997, 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2004. In 2001, O'Brien returned to host an episode of Saturday Night Live. In 2004, O'Brien signed a deal with NBC to remain the host of Late Night until 2009, after which he will replace Jay Leno and become the host of The Tonight Show, which has been his life-long dream. The following years saw an increase in Conan's fan base, going as far as flying to Finland where his show was successful, partially due to his resemblance to the Finnish President Tarja Halonen. O'Brien jokingly supported Halonen during the Finnish elections, and took credit in Halonen's victory. Late Night ended on February 20, 2009, after 16 years. ''The Tonight Show'' Conan's Tonight Show premiered on June 1, 2009. Many of the old sketches from Late Night were brought back, some in a revamped way, along with new sketches. The show garnered positive reviews, though Conan's loyal fan base of young viewers did not compare to Leno's previous older audience. In September 2009, Leno started his own primetime show at 10PM on NBC. The show was a critical failure, and a ratings disaster. The local news, which aired after Leno's show, were losing rating due to the failing lead-in, which in due led to weak ratings for Conan's Tonight Show. NBC, not wanting to lose both of their late-night stars, decided to move Leno back to 11:35, the original timeslot for The Tonight Show, while O'Brien will start his show at 12:05AM. Conan, not wanting to be the first Tonight Show host to move the show to the next day, refused, and after an agreement was reached, O'Brien aired his final Tonight Show on January 22, 2010. O'Brien fan base was stronger than ever, with an internet uproar leading to the creation of Team Coco and the "I'm with Coco" movement. Conan's Tonight Show was nominated for two Emmy Awards, for Best Comedy or Variety Series, and for Best Writing in a Comedy or Variety Series. ''The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour'' Due to his agreement with NBC, Conan was not allowed to perform on television, radio or internet until September 2010. Conan decided to go on the road, creating a 90-minutes show that would perform in 32 cities. The show, without any advertisements or promotions, was sold out almost immediately, which led to the addition of more shows. The show included a cold open depicting Conan's life without a talk-show, renamed sketches from his NBC shows, segments featuring Andy Richter and Deon Cole, musical performances with altered lyrics, and special guests appearing in different cities, including Jack McBrayer, Seth Rogen, Eddie Vedder, Jim Carrey, Jon Hamm, Jonah Hill, Jason Mraz, Mike Tyson, Tina Fey, Hanson, Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, Paul Rudd, Bill Hader, John Krasinski, former Late Night bandleader Max Weinberg, Pee-Wee Herman, Jack White and others. The tour ended on June 14, 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia. The tour was documented by director and Conan's fellow Harvard alumni Rodman Flender, which depicted Conan's struggle with the follow-up of losing The Tonight Show, the exhaustion of the tour, and his non-stop need to perform and please his fans. The movie, titled Conan O'Brien Can't Stop was released on June 24, 2011. ''Conan'' On the same day as announcing the tour, Conan announced he has signed a deal with the cable television channel TBS to start his new late-night talk-show. The show, titled Conan, premiered on November 8, 2010, with a record-breaking 4,100,000 viewers. The show features less previous sketches and more original sketches, segments and characters. The show, filmed in Stage 15 on the Warner Bros. Studios Lot in Burbank, is planning on going on the road to New York in September 2011. A visit to the WB Animation Studios, airing on December 10, 2012, had Conan giving legendary artist Bruce Timm a description of his ideal Conan-styled superhero. Timm sketched the Flaming C, which was later inserted as a character into WB's animated show, Young Justice. Trivia *Conan has two older brothers, Neal and Luke, and three younger siblings: brother Justin, and sisters Kate and Jane. **He credits Luke for his early fascination with comic books. Category:Real-life articles